Samsung India Eyes Second Spot in Sales

Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd is working at becoming number two in the Indian mobile phone handset market. It is currently ranked third.

According to Samsung deputy managing director Ravinder Zutshi, the company would soon come out with a range of handsets with multimedia and FM radio features.

Zutshi said the company has invested $180 million in India at its two manufacturing facilities, at Noida near New Delhi and Sriperumbudur near Chennai. It plans to spend another $70 million at the Sriperumbudur facility.

"We are focused on selling higher-end handsets," Zutshi said. He added that a customer buying a Samsung handset for the second time would always go for a model with better features and that is the market segment Samsung is targeting.

The company expects the renewed thrust would better utilise its installed capacity of producing 500,000 units a year. It presently makes around 300,000 units a year.

"Even in the consumer durables market, we're in the premium segment. We play by technology and product features; not by price," Zutshi said. He added that Samsung India would close this year with total revenues of $1.3 billion.